Laminated cards are becoming increasing popular in modern times, being used for identification, club or group memberships, parking passes, luggage or container tags, and for a wide variety of other uses. Many other organizations mail out business forms containing such cards either already laminated, or laminated at least in part by the recipient, and there is an ever-increasing market for business form intermediates that can be laser printed to incorporate variable information or indicia before the form is folded into a mailer-type business form, sealed and mailed to the recipient for production of the final laminated card. Exemplary prior art techniques in this regard are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,427,416, 5,662,976, 5,362,106 and 5,172,938. Laminated cards are highly desirable because it is important to keep the toner imaged on the cards so that it will not be easily rubbed off. Impact printers usually must use a heavy inked ribbon for a good, dark toner image on paper-faced cards. Laser printers use heat and pressure to adhere the toner to the sheet, and toner anchorage varies due to thickness of the stock, how fast the printer operates, how hot the fuser roller is, what type of toner is used, and what substrate it is printed on.
According to the present invention a method of producing, and ultimately handling, a business form from which a laminated two-faced card can be produced, a card so produced, and a business form containing such a card, are provided which have numerous advantages over the prior art. The business form produced and utilized to make a card according to the invention is significantly simpler than a number of the prior art procedures and constructions. The invention has enhanced versatility and simplified construction procedures compared to a German card construction which utilizes dummy and active cards and clean release material, but applies a patch of release liner material adhered by adhesive to the back of the dummy card portion of the business form with the silicone side out. In such a construction the use of liner material can make the form difficult to handle because of uneven thickness passing through a laser printer or the like, and typically is more costly than desired.
According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of producing, and ultimately handling, a business form using a web or sheet of imagable material having a face and a back, and a clean release material having as consecutive layers a pressure-sensitive adhesive, a transparent plastic, a dry release material, and a baseliner. The method comprises: (a) Spot coating silicone release material on the back of the web or sheet in a first area significantly less than the area of a business form to be formed. (b) Applying the clean release material to the back of the web or sheet in a second area, larger than the first area, and over and encompassing at least a significant amount of the first area, so that the adhesive adheres to the back of the web or sheet. (c) Imaging variable indicia on at least part of the face of the web or sheet opposite the second area on the back of the web or sheet, forming a third, imaged, area. And, (d) die cutting the web or sheet from the face thereof to form first and second generally equally sized adjacent cards, a first imaged face card having the third, imaged, area thereon and having a fourth area smaller than about one-half the second area, and a second card including at least part of the first area, and having a fifth area also smaller than about one-half the second area, the die cutting extending substantially completely through the adhesive and transparent plastic of the clean release material, but not the baseliner, and the die cutting including a substantially common die cut between the first and second cards along an edge of each.
The method also typically further comprises before (b) (and also typically before (a)) imaging the back of the web or sheet at at least a portion thereof opposite the third area to provide non-variable indicia thereon. While (c) and (d) may be practiced in either order, oftentimes (d) is practiced before (c). In the method (c) may be practiced before or after (a). Typically, the web or sheet comprises a sheet defining a business form, or a web, and if a web the method further comprises forming the web into a plurality of business forms, each individual form having (a) through (d) practiced. The method further comprises after (a) through (d), folding and sealing the business form to produce a mailer type business form with the faces of the cards unexposed, and mailing the mailer type business form.
Typically, (b) is practiced to apply the clean release material so that it substantially completely encompasses the first area. While other materials can be used, typically the web or sheet is a porous material like paper, and depending upon the details thereof and the nature of the silicone coating the method may further comprise applying a barrier coat to the first area before practicing (a).
The method typically further comprises (e) forming a dual face laminated card from the business form by sequentially: (e1) Removing the second card from the business form, exposing the pressure-sensitive adhesive underlying it. (e2) Folding over the first card so that the face thereof comes into contact with the adhesive exposed by (e1) and so that the transparent plastic of the clean release material underlying the first card dry releases from the baseliner. And, (e3) peeling the first card, with transparent plastic covering both the face and back thereof, away from the baseliner underlying the second card so that the first card dry releases from the baseliner underlying the second card.
The method may further comprise after (a)-(d), and before (e), folding and sealing the business form to produce a mailer-type business form with the faces of the cards unexposed, mailing the mailer-type business form, and opening up the mailer-type business form to expose the faces of the first and second cards.
Since the second card will more easily release from the clean release material, because of the silicone coating thereon, it is desirable to provide substantial ties between the surrounding business form and the second card. Typically, (d) is practiced to leave either no ties or first ties between the first card and the rest of the web or sheet, and to leave second ties, which are more secure than the first ties, between the second card and the rest of the web or sheet.
According to another aspect of the present invention, a business form is provided comprising: A substantially quadrate sheet of imagable material (preferably paper, but also films or plastic and the like that can effectively be imaged, particularly with a laser printer) having a face and a back. First and second immediately adjacent substantially quadrate cards die cut from the sheet and having a substantially common edge. The second card back having a coating of silicone release material. The first card back and the second card coating of silicone release material substantially completely covered with a clean release material having as consecutive layers a pressure-sensitive adhesive engaging the first card back and the second card silicone release coating, a transparent plastic, a dry release material, and a baseliner. The die cuts of the first and second card, defining at least all edges except the common edge, passing through the adhesive and the transparent plastic layers of the clean release material.
The business form may further comprise indicia imaged on the first card (e.g. variably imaged indicia by a laser printer), and imaged indicia (such as non-variable indicia) imaged on the back of the first card. The sheet may comprise a mailer type business form, folded about at least one fold line and sealed to provide the first card face interior of the mailer type business form.
The business form may further comprise either no ties or first ties between the first card and the rest of the sheet, and second ties, which are more secure than the first ties, between the second card and the rest of the sheet. Typically when the sheet is paper or a like porous material, and where the silicone coating is UV curable silicone, the form may further comprise a barrier coat between the silicone coating and the back of the paper sheet to prevent the silicone coating from soaking into the paper sheet.
According to yet another aspect of the present invention there is provided: A laminated card having a face and a back and imaged indicia on at least the face, and a plastic layer covering both the face and back and adhesively secured thereto, the card formed by a method using a web or sheet of imagable material having a face and a back, and a clean release material having as consecutive layers a pressure sensitive adhesive, a transparent plastic, a dry release material, and a baseliner, comprising: (a) Spot coating silicone release material on the back of the web or sheet in a first area significantly less than the area of a business form to be formed. (b) Applying the clean release material to the back of the web in a second area, larger than the first area, and over and encompassing at least a significant amount of the first area, so that the adhesive adheres to the back of the web or sheet. Then, (c) imaging variable indicia on at least part of the face of the web or sheet opposite the second area on the back of the web or sheet, forming a third, imaged, area. (d) Die cutting the web or sheet from the face thereof to form first and second generally equally sized adjacent cards, a first imaged face card having the third, imaged, area thereon and having a fourth area smaller than about one-half the second area, and a second card including at least part of the first area, and having a fifth area also smaller than about one-half the second area, the die cutting extending substantially completely through the adhesive and transparent plastic of the clean release material, but not the baseliner, and the die cutting including a substantially common die cut between the first and second cards along an edge of each. Wherein the web or sheet comprises a sheet defining a business form, or a web, and if a web further comprising forming the web into a plurality of business forms, each individual form having had (a)-(d) practiced thereon. And, (e) forming the laminated card from the business form by sequentially: (e1) removing the second card from the business form, exposing the pressure sensitive adhesive underlying it; (e2) folding over the first card so that the face thereof comes into contact with the adhesive exposed by (e1) and so that the transparent plastic of the clean release material underlying the first card dry releases from the baseliner; and (e3) peeling the first card, with transparent plastic covering both the face and back thereof, away from the baseliner underlying the second card so that the first card dry releases from the baseliner underlying the second card.
It is the primary object of the present invention to provide for the simple, very effective, and versatile production of business forms that can be made into laminated cards, and the laminated cards so produced. This and other objects of the invention will become clear from an inspection of the detailed description of the invention and from the appended claims.